Chapter Four
Ruby didn’t realize her stomach could fit inside her throat, but there it was gagging her as the small four-passenger plane hit yet another air pocket, jiggling her in her seat as Lucas piloted them closer to her own personal hell.
Fare Island sat in the middle of the North Sea, a green and gray oval of lush grasses and stony fjords that jutted out into the deep blue, daring the water to try to break it. Her stepfather couldn’t have chosen a better headquarters for his operation. Out in the middle of miles of water, dotted with unexploded ordnance from World War II and the occasional shark, it wasn’t a place the uninvited would stumble upon. Its isolation made government surveillance difficult, always a bonus when negotiating the sale of kilos of cocaine, arranging transport for human smuggling, or selling caches of arms to the world’s despots and thugs hell-bent on doing serious damage. As the island grew bigger in the jet’s front window, all she could think about was that here she was, right back where she’d started. No matter what, she never could shake the place for long. Even with all of the shit that came along with it, Fare Island was home—a criminally dysfunctional home populated by the twisted and the deranged, sure, but home nonetheless.
The slash of white cutting through an otherwise green scene came into view. The landing strip was well monitored and only a few miles from the main house.
“We’re cleared for landing.” Lucas’s voice came in through her earphones. “We have to operate under the assumption that someone is watching and listening at all times. Our objective is to uncover the time and location of the arms exchange, which is expected to go down soon, so the Silver Knights can be in position and stop it. If you have questions about the plan contained in the folder, about how we’ll do that, or our cover story, now is the time to get them out.”
The Luc Svendsen she’d read about in the file last night wasn’t her father’s equal, but he was a right bastard of a powerful villain who dealt in secrets and blackmail. The treasure trove of scandalous information he supposedly had access to would be unbearably appealing to Rolf—and he’d be willing to kill to gain access to it. The idea of Lucas ending up on the wrong end of her stepfather’s 9mm shouldn’t bother her. Hell, it would be karmic justice. Still, she couldn’t squash the bitter unease building inside her.
Confusion about his cover or the plan wasn’t the problem. She was certain that it was all going to go horribly wrong. “What about concerns?”
“Keep those to yourself.”
She bristled, her uneasiness gone in a flash of annoyance. “You know, you really are an asshole.”
His eyes were hidden by the reflective aviator sunglasses, and a day’s worth of dark scruff roughed up his jawline. Still, he didn’t have any problem letting her know exactly what he thought of her statement when he turned his head and grinned at her. “Abso-fucking-lutely.”
If her stomach had been in its rightful spot, it would have done a loop-de-loop at the cocky badassery of the smirk. As it was, her pulse started dancing the conga and a flush warmed her cheeks. Dammit, he shouldn’t be able to unsettle her like this.
Unsettled? Is that what we’re calling it?
Ignoring the question that could only lead to total idiocy,
Ruby turned her gaze back to the island runway. As the plane’s tires touched down on the tarmac, she let out a deep breath and focused on what really mattered. Not the asinine attraction toward the man in the pilot’s seat, but on her commitment to surviving the next few days so she and Jasper could finally be free of her stepfather’s poisonous talons and the Elskovian Silver Knights’ schemes because neither of them would let her or Jasper go after this operation.
If everything went wrong, her father would kill them without a second thought. If everything went right and the Silver Knights were able to stop the arms deal, they wouldn’t want to let her go. Her stepfather had his hands in enough other criminal enterprises that that she and Jasper would make valuable secret operatives. She’d be a double agent for the rest of her days with Jasper’s life hanging in the balance.
There had to be a way out. She just had to find it.
…
Standing inside the jet’s open doorway, Lucas glared at the brick wall of a man standing at the bottom of the plane’s steps blocking their path. Dressed in head-to-toe black like a comic book villain, he didn’t have a neck, an ounce of body fat, or a visible weapon. Taking the goon down wouldn’t come without a lot of pain, but it could be done. Lucas had done it before, but he wasn’t going to this time. In addition to the probable snipers with their guns trained on him at that moment, he needed to let this play out. The plan wasn’t about force. It was all stealth.
“Claude, how nice to see you again,” Ruby said from a few steps behind him, her voice polite but cool.
The ’roided-up goth kept his focus zeroed in on Lucas. “You know Mr. Macintosh doesn’t like surprise visits.”
Using the cover of his aviators, Lucas scanned the area, searching for the telltale glint of the sun hitting a rifle scope. He clocked two on the roof of the hanger. In addition, a man almost as large as Claude stood next to a Jeep parked at an angle on the tarmac.
“Don’t worry,” Ruby said, coming to stand next to him on the narrow step. “He’ll enjoy this bombshell.”
Claude didn’t move.
Alarm bells clanged out a Hosanna in Lucas’s head and he tensed.
Ruby just did that hair toss thing women did that could either be a come-on or a challenge and stared down Claude. “Let me introduce you to Luc Svendsen.”
The giant raised a bushy, brown eyebrow in recognition.
“My fiancé.”
The other eyebrow shot up.
She slipped her arm through the crook in Lucas’s elbow. “I’m hoping you won’t spoil the surprise for us. I’d like to tell my father the good news myself.”
Claude’s eyebrows went back to their starting position, and he pivoted so they could pass. He pressed a finger to the nearly invisible comm unit in his ear. “All clear. Stand down.”